Al-Qaida Militant Battalion's 4 Katushas From Lebanon Fired Into Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

Four Katusha rockets fell into Israel Thursday afternoon fired from southern Lebanon.  This happened in the early hours of Thursday morning to those of us in the USA on the Pacific coast as there is about a 10 hour difference.  Later, The Lebanese branch of the Abdullah Azzaam Brigades, a militant al-Qaida Islamist group said it was them who had attacked Israel.

Israel's Iron Dome downed one, a short-range Katyusha rocket.  A Twitter account, the terrorists' communication media, was seen to say "Praise and thanks be to Allah."  I say thank G-d that one rocket had barely missed. hitting a retirement home near Acre that houses Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.  Thank G-d that that the remaining 3 rockets caused little damage where they did fall.  Thank G-d that the rain of rockets from Gaza have so far fallen without a direct hit on life.  However, they cause enough harm emotionally as it is.  The hatred spewing from Islamic militant groups causes enough of a financial burden on everyone involved that could be better spent improving lives, not trying to take lives, including their own.

This is fairly rare that rockets come in from Lebanon.  Israel has been receiving rocket firing from Gaza even through the cease fire and has responded.  Like Netanyahu warned after this attack, "Anyone who attacks us, or tries to attack us, should know that we will get him."

The response came Friday morning reporting that Israel's planes were successful and hit their target which was south of Beirut.  Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible.  Palestinian military groups are in Lebanon firing at Israel from that point.  As Defense Minister Moshe Ya'aon commented, "The Middle East is hot and turbulent, whether among the extremist Islamic movements or the spread of global jihad."

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 8/23/13 page A5, Militants fire rockets into Israel; none reported hurt, Washington Post.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.543066

              Katusha Attacks from Gaza
Nadene Goldfoot
Yesterday evening a katusha grad rocket hit Beersheva.  This was the first time since Operation Cast Lead that this has happened.  Then a lot of attacks followed.  Avigdor Lieberman told the Israeli UN delegation to submit a complaint to the U.N for these attacks. 

This morning an IDF patrol was out along the Gaza border as usual but this time were fired on by mortar shells  along the fence.  Several Israeli tanks were fired on East of Gaza City.  The IDF fired back at this Jihad cell group and 10 Palestinians were wounded.   Three Palestinians were known to be militants from Al Quds Brigade, a radical IAslamist Jihad group of which one died later.  Patrols had found 12 bombs along the fence in the past two months. 

Later the Gazans fired a Grad rocket at Beersheva, which is only 25 miles from Gaza.  It's a city of 200,000.  The rocket made a big crater alongside a badly damaged home.  Also, three mortars had been fired at Kibbutz Nahal Oz.  They hit a football (soccer) field.  Four Israelis were treated for shock, two of which were children.  They said many homes shook.  Earlier, 6 mortar shells had fired on Sdot Negev. 

Two Palestinians were wounded when they were collecting gravel near the border.  That's their story.  Why would anyone be collecting gravel?  Isn't there enough rocks in Gaza that they would have to look near the fence? 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110223/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictgaza
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=209584
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122413827437111.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142501

Eilat and Jordan Hit by Long-Range Rockets

This morning both Eilat and Jordan were hit by long-range rockets and mortars. Eilat, the southern-most city in Israel with a population of about 65,000 is a popular holiday resort for tourists and Israelis. It is at the northern tip of the Red Sea. It lies next to Jordan.

The attack came from the Sinai peninsular in Egypt. I've been expecting something from Lebanon, but not from there. I hope Israel was more aware than I.

Five Grad rockets hit Jordan's resort, Aqaba, injuring four Jordanians. One exploded in front of the Intercontinental Hotel. Two cars were wrecked.

In Eilat, a rocket hit a taxi outside a hotel. It burst into flames. Two rockets exploded north of the city near the border with Jordan. Two more landed in the sea in Jordan waters.

The two cities had been hit on April 22 when two Katyusha rockets from Sinai exploded in Aqaba. There were no casualties then, either. In 2005 and 2007 both Al-Qaeda and Hamas were involved in attacks in Aqaba port. Then they killed a Jordanian soldier. A suicide bomber had attacked a bakery in Eilat and killed three bystanders.

It looks to me like Jordan would benefit if these terrorists could be stopped. They're also in the line of fire.

Resource: The Israel Project: press@theisraelproject.org

Mortar Shell in Bethlehem's Path

Ashkelon's Industrial Park Hit

Bethlehem lies in the West Bank. A group of Palestinian Christians were going through on their way to Bethlehem for Christmas when a mortar shell landed at Israel's passenger crossing with Gaza. They were just missed.

Ashkelon is one of Portland, Oregon's sister cities. Baltimore, Maryland also is their sister city. It has been of great interest to us. One reason is that it has the only hospital in the area in which both Palestinians and Israelis use.

Abt 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza at Israel in the past two days. Though no one was killed, there has been property damage. All the Israelis numbering in the tens of thousands have been told to stay indoors. The children are all panic-stricken here. So the civilians are under a terrible ordeal, nevertheless. It is a miracle that there were no deaths at this rate. Ashkelon's Industrial Park, which lies south of the city, was hit by a long-range-rocket, one probably procured from Iran.

Despite all this, Israel's Defense Ministry planned on opening two cargo crossings Friday. They do not want any humanitarian crisis, but intend to keep up the pressure to stop the incessant attacks.

The Palestinian President Abbas, recognized only in the West Bank, made his first visit to Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. 500 Jews live there in several neighborhoods. Unlike the USA, he finds this intolerable to have someone living there who are is not a Palestinian Arab. He demanded that the settlers get out. "Hebron is ours, and they have to leave if they want peace," he said. I find this shocking as an American and an Israeli where I had many Palestinians living in my building in Safed, Israel. My apartment was on David Eliazar, right across the street from the junior high where all sorts of children attended. I had several Circassians in my English class. Hebron was originally a Jewish city that underwent a slaughter by Arabs in 1929 when 700 Jews lived there. Hebron lies 18 miles south of Jerusalem. It is an ancient Jewish city full of history for the Jews. It now has 170,000 Palestinians living there.

Israel's Ehud Barak has made an appeal to Gazan citizens to pressure their Hamas terrorist leaders to stop the attacks. By nightfall 3 rockets and 15 mortar shells had exploded in Israel. Evidently the citizens couldn't stop the terrorism, as I explained in yesterday's blog.

Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak had a meeting with Tzipi Livni and is pushing restraint but she has had it. She told him that "enough is enough," "When there's shooting, there's a response. " I'm sure that Egypt would never put up with Israel firing barrages like they have been receiving without retaliation.

Israel has been warning the terrorists and the world that they will have to take responsibility to stop the attacks. This is going to be a difficult task since terrorst launchers are always placed in crowded areas for this very reason. In February, Netanyahu will possibly be elected as Prime Minister again. He is advocating tough action against Palestinian militants. Livni says she feels the same. I'm not sure if Israel can wait for Netanyahu to take over and retaliate. It could happen pretty soon.

The Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon has a lot of rockets stored. Last year two were fired into Israel. Now the Lebanese army officers said their troops discovered 7 Katusha rockets set up with timers ready to fire near the border with Israel. Their troops were dismantling them.

Update: GREAT NEWS. PASTOR HAGEE OF CUFI HAS GIVEN BARZILAI HOSPITAL IN ASHKELON A DONATION OF ONE MILLION TO FORTIFY THE HOSPITAL AGAINST ROCKET ATTACKS!!!!!!!!! Giant thanks to this wonderful organization and for all it does for Israel. PASCA (Portland Ashkelon Sister City Association) will send a letter of appreciation to them in Texas.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_47/print

The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder,D.Phil,Editor-in-Chief

Hamas Attacks Northern Israel

by Nadene Goldfoot

Katusha rockets were launched into Northern Israel from Lebanon Sunday afternoon. The rockets landed near Kiryat Shimona where the only department store in the area is. When I lived in Safed from 1980-1985, I prayed that the rockets would miss the Hamishbeer Department Store, which reminded me so much of Meier & Franks in Portland, Oregon. .

They did hit a factory, cars and of course did much damage to the roads. They were fired only 2.5 miles from the boarder of Israel. Four rockets were fired, but one of them was a dud. These were not fired from Hezbollah, who fired them last year. These were from the Hamas Palestinians who just took over the Gaza. The Katusha rockets have a much longer range than the Kassam used in Gaza. Last year's attack on northern Israel which involved Safed lasted for 34 long days when hundreds of rockets exploded in the area, demolishing many beautiful sites in Safed and elsewhere. Luckily, there were no people injured.

Sderot and other adjoining areas in Southern Israel have been attacked and now Northern Israel is being attacked. Israel has held back retaliating up to this point. Something must be done to stop these Hamas terrorists who think they can get away with any show of force against Israel. With new people in the Israeli cabinet, perhaps something will develop. How much patience does the world think that Israel has?

Update 3/27/19